Lady Bird (2017)
A mother and a daughter have issues in this indie film. The mother is abusive and derides and has a passion for complaining. The daughter self harms by throwing herself out of a moving car to escape her mother's abuse. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf star. The mother is into aggregations. She is a miserable, mentally exhausting woman who mutters darkly and who has worn her husband down to nothing.
The daughter does not feel safe, secure and purposeful. She has unfulfilment and signs up for a play, silently resenting her mother who severly provokes her. The mother is furiously mad and derides her daughter's college and job dreams. The mother has a propensity to provoke and wants people to bend to her bidding. The mother has a negative response to everything. The daughter has a crush, things get increasingly bitter with the vile hateful mother.
The mother is strongly indignant. It is 2002/2003 in this film. The mother stirs anger and causes deep resentment – how she hasn't been lamped or divorced by now is a mystery. The daughter wants to go to a liberal arts college. The mother resents this and isn't a life enhancer and nags relentlessly and destructively. She's not empathetic, forgiving or supportive – she's full of particular venom.
The daughter endures and copes with her mother's bitter criticism. Another boy lurks. There is Thanksgiving and the girl's brother and his girlfriend live with them. Why? His mother seems to have crushed all hope out of him. Greta Gerwig directed this. Timothee Chalamet is in this ok film. There are reckless teen decisions and the mother, Marion, needs shooting.
Best Lines:
“You definitely couldn't get in.”
“Actual train tracks.”
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The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978)
David Warner, Robert Powell, John Mills and Timothy West lumber around this bad utter wretchedness.
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Neighbors (1981)
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star in this unfunny comedy. New neighbours move in next door to an uptight guy (Belushi!) who is put off by their weirdness until he isn't. Aykroyd annoys as the weirdo. Belushi voices his discontent until he doesn't. This was made with a clossal degree of incompetence. This torments by annoyance and I didn't care about any of the vile depraved loons.
Best Lines:
“I WILL NOT EAT CHEAP MEAT!”
“Weird things started to grow.”
“You insulted my sauce!”
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Truth Or Dare Extended Director's Cut (2018)
The wildly untalented Tyler Posey of 'Teen Wolf' and a bored looking Lucy Hale star. There are bad VFX and really bad acting in this horror which is about as intimidating as a turnip. 'Woke' teens go on a spring break alternative to Mexico to build houses or something. Only they don't build houses, they get drunk and cursed.
Nobody behaves responsibly and teens wear slut wear and an unrelenting force is after them. Unease is not sowed and dire cirumstances come very slow. There is a shared experience of vulnerability. A burk gets them cursed because he is a burk. People die because of other people's wicked choices.
This does not prove indispensable or anxiety inducing. There are no far reaching consequences. There is existing bitterness and increasingly toxic relations, which happen eventually. Various characters are jackasses. There are no dramatic complications and this was not disconcerting. Friends are unappreciative. This is not completely isolating. This was boring.
There is no constant air of menace. People seethe with masculinity that proves puffed up and pointless. This was tepid and there is no measured unravelling of tension. This was ill-conceived. There are unspoken tensions and would be melodramatic plot driving secrets. This was not unrelentingly grim.
People don't shape their own lives. There was a planned, vicious and brutal set up. Lucas (Posey) is a jackass. A bff is slutty. There are no important implications. There are worsening relations and no personal gratification. This was not compelling or entirely credible or believable. Several big scenes take place off screen. It takes time for people to realise the urgency. Pathos isn't the characters strong suit. A med school interview goes awry.
There are missteps. This was cack handed and causes exasperation at its manifest inability to be scary or even mediocre. People look up Facebook and have egotism. There is a devasting impact. There is a curse that curses. It is sort of like the Christopher Pike novels 'Chain Letter 1&2'.
There is a Mission and this causes vexation. More stuff happens off screen. Did Lucas and the heroine boff? Serious decisions are made, stark warnings are uttered and there is a backstory. There are invidious positions. There are deaths and a secret and doesn't anyone lock their doors? One character's name changes from Sam to Carter from scene to scene. Carter/Sam = loser. The ending is an utter WTF moment.
Best Lines:
“Belly bumping.”
“Most annoying folly.”
“I don't want your peso!”
“Stop it with the aggro-posturing.”
“This is so messed up.”
“Even by my standards.”
“You never say no to him.”
“Seen it before, not impressed.”
“I will you stab you with this!”
“It followed us home.”
“I can't deal with this crazy.”
“Another thousand dollars in credit card debt.”
“Only chose truth.”
“Super dangeorus rules.”
“How noble.”
“Something I can never tell.”
“She speaks to no one.”
“His pleasure was our pain.”
“I'll never trust you again.”
“How did you find me?”
“We were motivated!”